European GP: McLaren Mercedes debrief

2008 European Grand Prix technical debrief with Martin Whitmarsh
After several weeks' simulation and preparation, did the European
Grand Prix weekend play out largely as you had expected?
"It's fair to say we predicted more drama from a track...

2008 European Grand Prix technical debrief with Martin Whitmarsh

After several weeks' simulation and preparation, did the European
Grand Prix weekend play out largely as you had expected?

"It's fair to say we predicted more drama from a track lined with
concrete walls and had factored the appearance of at least one Safety Car
period into our pre-race calculations. The reality is that the race had
its moments of controversy but never quite delivered the level of
incident we'd been anticipated beforehand.

"I don't know whether that's down to us misinterpreting the level
of risk involved in racing around this track or whether it was just a
testament to the good driving standards of modern Formula 1 drivers.
Nonetheless, we came away from Valencia having made gains in both
championships, which was very encouraging."

How close did Lewis come to not taking part in the race?

"At 8am on Saturday, I received a phone call from the team's doctor,
Aki Hintsa, telling me that Lewis was in some difficulties - he'd
woken up with a severe migraine and with his neck in spasm. Aki treated
Lewis but, when he arrived at the circuit on Saturday morning, he could
barely move his neck at all, so things looked very severe.

"As a precaution, we readied Pedro to take over - but, despite delaying
his start to Saturday practice, Lewis was able to continue with his full
race programme. His physical problems are unlikely to disturb his fitness
programme and we expect him to make a full recovery for both the Monza
test and next week's Belgian GP."

Was the race pace of the MP4-23 largely what you had been anticipating?

"Lewis felt a lot better on Sunday but was still slightly sore and
tender. We are delighted he was able to sustain the performance of a full
race in hot conditions. We did not have the package to beat Felipe Massa
but we feel we did a first-rate job and secured a very useful haul of
world championship points. Lewis extended his lead in the drivers'
championship and, in the constructors', we extended our lead over BMW
Sauber and closed down the gap to Ferrari."

Heikki's victory in Hungary and fourth place in Valencia suggest
he's become a more complete driver - would you agree?

"Most definitely. The reality is that Heikki's particularly strong
when he's got the car in front in his sights. When he homes in on
another competitor then his natural competitive instincts really come
alive. Heikki's much more adept at switching effortlessly between
engine-saving, brake-saving and tyre-saving modes and knows exactly when
to push - so the situation he encountered at the start of the year when
he was dealing with slightly more tyre degradation is no longer a
concern."

How do you see the remainder of the championship playing out?

"I think Ferrari were pleased the sun came out on Sunday as I'm sure
they feel when the track temperature really heats up that's when
their car really comes to them. We're now entering extremely
interesting territory where we wont be entirely certain what sort of
temperatures we'll be encountering at some of the future races: Monza
is likely to be hot and Singapore will probably be cooler, but the races
at Spa, Fuji, Shanghai and Brazil could just as easily be sweltering as
torrential. Regardless, we will continue to make changes to our car right
through until Brazil."